[Sust-mar] social forum July 21

[IBS]

IBS/PEI Social Forum
Tueday July 21
"THE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS MOVEMENT: ITS HISTORY, ITS IMPACT AND ITS FUTURE"
  
The Institute for Bioregional Studies Ltd. (IBS), invites you to join
our Social Forums. Each event begins at 7:00 p.m. with a potluck
dinner, presentation and informal discussion. The intent is to share
ideas and inform each other about social issues affecting our future.

Each forum is held at 114 Upper Prince Street, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

For more information and to RSVP, call:902-367-0390; Email: _ibs_pei at yahoo.com_ <mailto:ibs_pei at yahoo.com; 
Internet: _www.ibspei.ca_ http://www.ibspei.ca/ 

 
There was a time in the distant past when businesses were the anchors
of their communities. While not utopian, they were at the center of
their communities, supporting the social fabric with jobs, philanthropy
and concerns for all things local. Many were multi-generational
family-owned businesses, and the family members were proud of their
contributions to the cities and towns where they lived and raised their
families.
  By the 1950s, improved transportation,
communications and manufacturing capabilities made "the local" less
important as companies looked to national and international markets for
both supply and demand. Professional managers came and left; and
efficiency became the highest priority, devaluing the impact on the
social infrastructure and the "limitless" strength of the earth.
 
In the 1970s, the first seeds of a new movement were planted. They were
largely invisible, except in what might be considered fringe
communities; but they were planted in the hopes of creating a renewed
prioritization for both the planet and its residents. In the 1980s, the
movement started to coalesce around the idea that business may have
caused many of the world's problems but that it was the most efficient
mechanism for solving them. In the 1990s, the now-called Socially
Responsible Business comunity moved from the margins into at least some
portions of the mainstream business world. Some leaders were featured
as icons of a new way of thinking about business, and the sub-sector of
Socially Responsible Investing became a booming category. In the first
years of the new century, both the language and actions of social
responsibility have crept into large portions of mainstream business.
And yet, this movement is very much a work in process.
  This
conversation will review the history of the movement with informative
and often entertaining stories about its early days. We will discuss
its many successes, its failures, and its opportunities for further
expansion in the future.
  Mac McCabe will lead this discussion.
Having graduated with an MBA from Harvard in 1971, he spent his early
years honing his skills in mainstream businesses; but in 1989 he
committed himself full-time to the socially responsible business world
as a sustainable business consultant, interim management and
entrepreneur. This community foregrounds the importance of the "triple
bottom line": financial, environmental and social.
  Mac has run
such diverse companies as Northeast Cooperatives, the original
wholesale distributor to the natural and organic grocery world- and a
worker-owned cooperative; the Greyston Bakery, a renowned inner city
training and employment project that makes all the brownies for Ben and
Jerry's Ice Cream; and most recently O'Naturals, the first natural and
organic quick-service restaurant chain in the US founded with Gary
Hirshberg, CEO of iconic organic manufacturer Stonyfield Farm Yogurt.
Mac lives in Portland, Maine, is spending his 15th summer vacation on
PEI with his wife, and is particularly proud that two of his four
grandparents were from the Atlantic Provinces.

For more information and to RSVP, call:902-367-0390; Email: _ibs_pei at yahoo.com_ <mailto:ibs_pei at yahoo.com>
 Phil Ferraro and Nancy Willis
Institute for Bioregional Studies Ltd.
114 Upper Prince Street, Charlottetown 
Prince Edward Island Canada  C1A 4S3
"Restoring Community, Protecting the Land and Informing the Earth’s Stewards"
www.ibspei.ca



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